The sequel (or is it a fan disk? I haven’t really looked into it) of Diabolik Lovers is out already, but… I JUST finished Ayato’s route. That took me what, a month? A month and a half? I think I’ll hold off on -More Blood- until I finish this game and BroCon Brilliant Blue.

This is the part in the series where they take all of these horrible characters, give them tragic backstories, and make you feel sorry for them in hopes that it makes you overlook the fact that they’re all sadistic asshats. Actually, this kind of worked with me in the game, and I did feel sorry for some of the characters. There’s definitely a difference between reading that things happen and then actually hearing them acted out. Plus, these characters grew up rather secluded from regular society, so it’s not like they had very good influences. Or in Shu’s case, if they did have good influences, someone else in the family would go to screw everyone over. Though some of the brothers have better reasons for their actions than others… and unfortunately, the anime doesn’t do a very good job at portraying any of them, despite this being the episode for that. I guess the important thing you take out of this is the fact that these characters had a terrible childhood and apparently vampires are pretty bad all around when it comes to parenting.

Like I’ve said in earlier posts, Shu’s problem was that he was given a little too much attention. I guess we’re just supposed to assume as viewers that he became lazy due to what happened with Edgar or something, since that’s all they really gave us. (And not the fact that he had everything done for him.) Reiji, was given next to no attention. …Which really doesn’t explain why he’s such a sadistic person, but it does explain why he would hate Shu, despite Shu never doing anything wrong. As for Subaru, he hates the world because he… failed to kill his mother? Or it’s probably more self-loathing that he takes out on the world. Actually, Christina (Subaru’s mother) is the best parent here, despite the fact that she told her very young and impressionable son to murder her. …She has her own (rather valid) reasons for that.

As for Ayato, his problems growing up were actually portrayed pretty well. Things were less harsh than the game, but Cordelia’s bitchiness shone through wonderfully. Yes, this is why Ayato grew up to be a massive oresama who just does whatever he wants. He has to be number one after all. Other people don’t matter. Actually, Cordelia has her own issues, but I assume the next episode will go into them, so I’ll hold off on talking about them here. Unfortunately though, some things can’t be talked about without mentioning others, so I’ll explain Cordelia’s motives in the spoiler paragraphs below. Actually, this show is super intent on staying PG 13 for whatever reason, so Laito and Kanato’s reasons for growing into psychopaths were completely ignored. They’re in the spoiler tag below too, and I highly doubt that the anime will ever explain this due to the nature of the whole thing.

So what’s Cordelia’s issue? Well, she loves (lusts after?) Karl Heinz. A lot. Like, to the point of obsession. Normally this wouldn’t be an issue, considering that they’re married, but as you saw, Karl isn’t the type of guy just to have one wife. Hell, from what I’ve gotten out of the game so far, he doesn’t see his wives as anything other than possessions. Due to this, Cordelia has massive insecurities, absolutely hates the other wives, and this is also why she wants Ayato to be the best like no one ever was. You know, to catch Karl’s attention. Actually, Cordelia is also the reason Beatrice (Shu and Reiji’s mother) committed suicide, since Cordelia bullied the crap out of her. …But that’s another story entirely.

Okay, on to the children. Laito became a sexual deviant because Cordelia’s logic went “Well if I can’t have Karl, then I guess I’ll have his son”. Yep. And thus, Laito developed a Oedipus Complex in the truest sense. However, Cordelia just wasn’t satisfied with using her son to satisfy her needs, so she was also having sex with Karl’s brother, Richter, as well. They’re both related to Karl, so somewhere in her head, it was close enough. Now as for Kanato… Well, I’m not sure if this explains his character or not, but he was pulled into this trauma as well. Cordelia didn’t really care if her children saw her and Richter go at it (fun fact: this is also how Laito developed his NTR fetish), so she would have sex right in front of Kanato. Richter kind of mentioned this one time, but Cordelia just laughed and said that Kanato was too busy talking with his bear.

Long story short, the brothers weren’t the first generation of vampires with issues, and they could all probably benefit from a good counselling session or a hug or something. Though of course, this franchise wouldn’t fulfill the marketing appeal it set out there of being a do-S game if things were solved like that. So we’ll just have to deal with the brothers taking out all of their mommy issues on Yui.

It’s safe to assume that everything in this episode actually happened. Though that raises the question as to why Yui saw it in the first place. Or why Yui sees Cordelia in places she shouldn’t be, considering that she’s dead (if you haven’t caught on yet from the blood stained dress that appears every so often). There’s also the question as to how Yui sustained an injury from the memory. …Actually, even I don’t know the answer to the last one (or why Yui saw some things that were unrelated to her… situation). Maybe they’ll go into that when they explain what Yui is doing there in the first place.

…Cordelia may be my favourite character, if only for how hilarious her logic is. Laito and Kanato’s route flashbacks were pretty funny in the game(…and also sad/pitiable, obviously. It was a weird mix of emotions). She was totally a bitch to Ayato, but maybe with his constant studies, he wasn’t around for the NTR show Cordelia would put on. …Though I doubt it, considering her character. ANYWAYS, this episode sucked in terms of how well it explained things from the game, but it was a good episode in terms of the anime. More plot happened than the rest of the episodes put together almost. Since the character introductions are done now, I wonder if the anime will incorporate more plot too. The next episode is certainly plot-centric, if the preview is to be believed.

At least they’re not on the same level psychologically. Christina is protrayed as a caged bird here so much can’t be said about her. Beatrice may be strict and uptight but she’s nowhere as bitchy as Cordelia. I mean, who in their right mind uses their own child to satisfy their sexual urges? She’s beyond twisted.

Ahaha I real wish they had included some of the Laito and Kanato scenes with Cordelia. Not that I really want to see that, but Cordelia has some pretty funny lines (for the wrong reasons). She’s waaaay bitchier to Ayato, and that’s really the only side we’ve seen from her here.

You’d never think those innocent looking kids would grow up into the infamous assholes viewers have come to know. If they had actually stayed how they were, people would be more accepting of them. Well, you can put the blame on bad parenting.

For Subaru’s mother Christina wanting him to murder. I’m guessing she wants him to kill her because she may be tired of living.

apparently vampires are pretty bad all around when it comes to parenting.

Hmmm… That would depend on what universe you’re in. Look at Mina Tepes from Dance in the Vampire Bund. As a vampire she’s cunning, sadistic, charismatic, haughty and self-indulging but is very protective of her people and treats her friends as equals. Even giving special treatment to her servant and love interest Akira (who’s a werewolf!), like letting him sleep in her bed one time when he was unconscious. Her father Vlad Tepes and mother Lucretia had to have been doing something right.

Yui perceives a lot of things other people wouldn’t be able to see. I’m wondering if she didn’t have a previous relative living around the grounds because her connections get stronger every day. Seeing someone who should be dead followed by being sent into a trance isn’t a normal thing. It could all be in her head, so as the explanation for her wound. Stress on the mind destroys the body. Think of what happened in the Matrix movies. Whatever happens to them in there will have a similarity on their bodies in the real world.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, things are getting more morbid. Yui being drained by two vampires at the same time? They’re starting to step up their game but more vampires are needed if they want to top Shiki’s top bloodsucking record. I wonder what’s going through Ayato’s mind. He definitely noticed a pulse after biting Yui but pretends like he’s uninterested.

Ayato is acting way different than he did in the game. When he noticed the same thing in his route, he became an even bigger asshole and changed character almost completely. Though his reaction here makes sense too.

There was something about awakening.. and at the end of the recap episode, in Yuis monologue she said that she feels that something inside her is awakening. Richter is sticking around, oddly enough. And that dress, too. Are they trying to revive Cordelia or something?

Really, really bad parenting. Though it kind of makes you wonder how Cordelia and the others were raised. Though that has absolutely nothing to do with otome, so the game has never gone into that. Uh, I don’t think the series will ever go into it, so I’ll just explain Christina’s motives. She didn’t exactly want to get married to Karl (or have anything to do with him. So she was forced into it, kind of like Yui (only Christina never turned into a masochist and I think she was probably a vampire to begin with). Or at least that was how it was explained to me.

Oh, unspoken, but I was totally referring to the vampires in this series alone. Obviously, I can’t speak for absolutely every piece of media out there. xD

To tell you the truth, I’ve never seen any of the Matrix movies… But all I can say is that they’ve taken a creative licence with what Yui can and can’t see. I’ll be interested to see how they explain some of this.

Poor children. TT^TT
I’m interested, why did they decide to make the anime PG13? They had to leave out massive amount of information about the characters because of that. Plus, it would help to build up that despair level, because Yui is stuck with a bunch of sadistic freaks. The fact that anime shows only blood sucking and that’s how they portray the hell she was forced to live in is kind of funny. Such a waste…
But MAN that woman is terrible. I don’t even know where to start o-o how could she… with her freaking children! Darn it, that’s terrible. Poor kids ;_;

Oh, this episode could have been so much better. Too bad. And for the first time, Yui actually irritated me. She was just standing around and watching, PERIOD. Show show more reaction, emotions, girl oO sheesh. She started degrading too o-o let’s call it harem heroine disease. It destroys the ability to think and show any kind of reaction any normal girl would have.
But I still love this show. I want more Subaru *^*

…I wish I could answer that. They could have included so many ~interesting~ things if they had bumped this up to even 15+. Though with only this much to it, people still seem to hate this anime, so I wonder what would have happened if this was worse.

I wasn’t too upset with Yui here. -spoilered due to things people shouldn’t know yet-

There is something odd about Yui. I think she recovers the amount of blood drained from her in a matter of hours. Towards the end of the recap, she said something within her begins to become unhinged and begins to awaken. Anyone else who surely die of blood loss at this point.